


Beached

by owlmoose



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Community: ladiesbingo, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 06:26:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17955296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlmoose/pseuds/owlmoose
Summary: Aqua meets the Gullwings in the Dark World.





	Beached

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Round 6 of Ladies Bingo, to the prompt "Elves, Fairies, Pixies and Brownies". A slightly loose interpretation of the prompt.

Aqua fell for a very long time, through the blackness darker than night, darker than a room with no window and no doors, darker than whatever she saw when she closed her eyes -- a darkness, she slowly realized, that she had grown used to over the past... ten years? Could it really be ten years, as Mickey had said?

Mickey... she could only hope that he had succeeded, that the disappearance of the once-slumbering Destiny Islands from beneath her feet meant that he and the others had closed the door and saved all the worlds from this realm. She believed him, had to believe; otherwise her sacrifice had been for nothing, and that, of all the things she had endured since the Mark of Mastery exam, might finally break her. She had to believe that the worlds were safe, that Ven was still safe in the castle, that Terra was safe out there somewhere. And she had to believe that someday, somehow, this endless fall would end, and that she would land on her feet, and find a way out of this prison. But even if she didn't, it would all have been worth it.

It could have been hours, days, years.... but at last she began to slow, and she was no longer falling through nothingness, instead recognizing the brush of warm air against her skin. Warm air... tropical air? She had no time to form further impressions as she landed with a loud splash. Water-- salt water, she realized, as she took a gulp just before going under, plunging deep into what had to be an ocean. She righted herself, then kicked to swim back upwards. A wave splashed into her face and up her nose; she spluttered as she broke the surface, then took a fast breath before another wave crashed over her head. She spent a few minutes getting her bearings, treading water to stay afloat, and peered into the blackness for any hint of a shore. Although she saw nothing, it seemed that the waves were pushing her somewhere. Might as well, she thought, and then she let herself go: leaning back, arms and legs splayed out, floating to the surface, relaxing into the current. She looked up into an expanse of pure blackness: no moon, no stars, nothing. Still, she could almost imagine she was back home, watching the night sky with Terra and Ven again.

She wondered where she was. No moon meant it couldn't be the beach at the end of the world. But the direction of the waves suggested she had to be near land. Maybe this was a world that hadn't yet been rescued from the darkness.

Aqua lost track of how long she floated in the gentle sea and lett it rock her. So peaceful, almost comforting. It had been so long since she'd last just let herself be, not pushing forward into whatever step of the mission came next. She closed her eyes and hummed softly, in tune with the rhythm of the waves. Was it her imagination, or was the tempo slowly getting faster, bobbing her higher and lower with each wave? And could she hear the sound of waves splashing on a shore? She opened her eyes and turned her head just in time to get a mouthful of foam as perfect white sand rushed toward her face. 

She hit the beach hard, sand grinding into her hands and knees. Coughing, she rolled herself over on her back, then scooted herself up the beach and out of the waves. She took a few deep breaths -- it was tropical air, all right, if a bit stale and chill with the effects of darkness. Time worked strangely in the Dark World... could she somehow be back on the Destiny Islands after all? Or--

"Hey! Do you need some help?"

Her eyes flew open and found a small face, floating above her, wreathed in bright blond hair. She sat up quickly, shaking her head. "What-- who--"

"Whoa, easy there." The girl -- and it was a girl, a tiny girl with a scarf stretching out behind her like wings -- flitted back and forth in front of her. "It's okay, you're safe. Well, as safe as any of us are in this place. Anyway, we aren't going to hurt you, as long as you behave."

Aqua doubted there was much this girl could do to her, but it seemed safest to nod. "I'll do my best." 

"Good. Now, are you sure you're okay?" The girl tipped her head to the side, tiny blond braids bouncing around her face. "We saw you fall into the water, and then you got splashed up and onto the beach pretty hard."

"I think so." Aqua touched her chin, then her knees, and found no bleeding or abrasions. She got to her feet and brushed the sand off the back of her legs before taking another good look around. Although the beach still reminded her of Destiny Islands, it was different in some key ways, notably the lack of any buildings and the sheer wall of cliff that rose up behind her. "May I ask, what is this place?"

The girl shrugged. "Good question. I mean, it's Spira. Besaid Island. Or-- it was." She gestured around the beach. "Ever since the darkness fell and most everyone disappeared, I don't know where we are, really."

Aqua felt a stab of sympathy. "Are you alone?"

"Oh, no. Not at all." The girl cupped a hand around her mouth. "Hey, girls! It's safe. You can stop hiding now."

From across the beach, Aqua heard a groan, followed by a tinkling laugh. Two more feminine voices, she thought, and turned her head in their direction just in time to see two more small flying girls come out from behind a tree. One was dressed all in black and had wings to match; the other wore white and purple and a gentle smile. 

"We weren't _hiding_ ," the girl in black said. 

The other girl laughed -- again, Aqua realized; it was her voice that she'd heard a moment ago. "Right, Rikku. We knew you could handle it on your own, that's all."

The blond girl -- Rikku -- flipped her hair with a giggle. "Well, of course. So, I guess now you know my name." She pointed at the other two in turn, first the one in white, then the one in black. "This is Yuna, and the grumpy one is Paine." Paine's scowl deepened, and Rikku giggled again. "We're the Gullwings."

"Aqua," she said. She had the urge to put out a hand to shake, then stopped -- that would be ridiculous; even just her finger would dwarf the girls' hands. So she curtsied instead.

"How did you get here?" Paine glanced sideways in her direction. "If you aren't from Spira..."

"It's a long story," Aqua said. Maybe the Dark World was exempt from the rules about not revealing the existence of other worlds, given how things blended together here, but that wasn't her call to make. "Besides, I'm more interested in getting out."

"Well..." Rikku glanced back and forth between her companions. "We have a way out. Kinda. We think. But we aren't sure it's a good idea."

Paine snorted. "I'm sure it's not a good idea," she said. "But I think we're out of other options."

"Yeah." Yuna sighed, then looked at Aqua. "How about you? Are you sure you don't need any help? We might convince Malificent--"

"Malificent!" Aqua recoiled, and some instinct called the keyblade to her hand. From their size, and the way they flitted about, the girls reminded Aqua a bit of Tinkerbell, the fairy she'd first met in Neverland. So she'd been thinking of them as fairies... but not dark and twisted fairies like Malificent. "Where is she?"

"Well, she--"

"Quiet!" Before Rikku could say anything else, Paine grabbed her and pulled her aside, and Yuna joined them in a small, floating huddle, the three of them talking just softly enough that Aqua caught only snippets of the conversation: "treasure", "we made a deal", "get out", "already transformed", "find the others". So she remained at the ready, keyblade drawn. She hadn't considered the Gullwings a threat on their own, but danger could come in small or innocent-looking packages. Especially if they were working with Malificent.

A moment later, the girls stopped talking and turned to face her, Yuna in front. "It was nice to meet you, but I'm afraid we must be going. Sorry!" She bowed, and then disappeared into a swirling purple portal, Rikku and Paine following.

"Wait!" Aqua lunged forward, but the portal had already disappeared by the time she got there, leaving her alone on a white sandy beach, surrounded by darkness. She sighed and let the keyblade go, sending it back to where it waited. Too bad she hadn't learned more from these girls, or been able to convince them not to work with Malificent. But perhaps they were wrong, and she could find another way out of darkness. She turned her back on the sea and headed for the trail that wound its way up the cliff.


End file.
